The St Andrew's Blue-Throated Bee-Eaters

[limmick]

More on the nests of the BTBEs...

It was observed that the BTBEs would fly down to dig at their nests for short intervals (a few minutes each time) and then fly off - and repeat the cycle. The BTBEs were very cautious when they approach or are at the entrance hole to their nests - each time they flew to their nests, they tended to look around first - left, right and centre - sometimes for a few times before starting digging or entering their nests.

It was also noticed that the BTBEs did have to perform "maintenance" and "repair" work on the nest - we observed this behavior near the entrance only - as the rest of the nesting hole is not visible.
Note the sand being thrown backwards away from the hole in the picture below...

All in all, four (4) nest holes were created - so four pairs of BTBEs started to nest in the field - labelled 1 to 4 in the picture/diagram below

The close up pics of all the four (4) nests - corresponding to the nests as labelled in previous pic / diagram

For the nesting holes, I think the structure and shape of the nests is most probably as depicted in the picture / diagram below - they are about 1-2 feet below the surface (field) and about 3-5 feet long - ending in a chamber of sorts with probably a raised portion for the chicks to stay in.

 

[wkcheah76]

The St Andrew's Blue-Throated Bee-Eaters - SCENE FOUR (4)

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SCENE FOUR (4): The 'FEEDS & FLIGHTS' - Feeds & Flights of the BTBEs
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The BTBEs will perch high over their nests for bugs, hence the reason their habitat and nesting ground is always near open fields. I am rather surprised how resilient they are to choose such an urban place to site their nests! Yes, upon finding a target they will swoop down to gain speed, glide into the target and SNAP, gotcha. They will return to Tree B and smack the bug to compliance (half dead) or to remove any poisonous parts and then decide in awhile to approach the nest.

 

[wkcheah76]

If they are wary of predators they would hover around or loop in order to test the surroundings, but if they are urgent when nesting accelerates or there is no threat, they enter straight away. Notice how the menu changes in order to provide the juvenilles with a variety of nutrition.

 

[dominator]

Excellent documentary! :thumbsup:

 

[jcho]

BTBE Going for yellow butterfly

Shoot 1

Shoot 2

Shoot 3

All 3 in 1

 

[jcho]

My Flight shoots

 

[jcho]

 

[F2point8]

I was amazed at all the flight shots you guy had. Most impressive!
Micky, I am not too sure if it is wise to post the exact location and map. I know you mean well for buddies like us, but it may attract unwarranted attentions from others.

Nice documentaries, pal. Love it!
:cheers::thumbsup::thumbsup:

 

[Pearlang]

Beautiful shots! The birds are so so cute. :heart::heart::heart:

 

[limmick]

Excellent documentary! :thumbsup:

Thanks dominator - from the "team"

I was amazed at all the flight shots you guy had. Most impressive!
Micky, I am not too sure if it is wise to post the exact location and map. I know you mean well for buddies like us, but it may attract unwarranted attentions from others.

Nice documentaries, pal. Love it!

Hi Raymond, thanks for the :thumbsup: and also thanks for the reminder - the nesting is over and the place is no longer accessible to the public... that's why we have delayed the postings till now... we all fully agree and remain very mindful of the sensitivities of nesting birds/phase and will not make such locations known to all... thanks again.

Beautiful shots! The birds are so so cute. :heart:

Thanks Pearl ! Ya, they are such sweeties ! especially the... :dunno:

 

[limmick]

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SCENE FIVE (5): The 'THREAT' - Threat to the BTBEs' Nesting
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Well, unfortunately for the BTBEs - the quiet, undisturbed (by us humans!) field in the St Andrew's compound was not to remain so for long. The St Andrew's Community Hospital was just about to be re-developed and become home to the new St Andrew's Autism Centre - and so the buildings and gounds have actually been abandoned (vacated) some months prior and so made the location attractive to the BTBEs which were largely left on their own. But alas, all that was about to come to an abrupt end very shortly - as the construction crew moved in to perform the re-development work...

The heavy equipment and machinery were moved in and quickly began their work...

The first few days was just initial 'light' work which were largely carried out in the opposite field which did not seriously threaten the BTBEs as yet, but as the days progressed the work became more extensive and so there was growing concern among us for the nestng BTBEs. There was then some discussion with the site workers and their management who I must add have been most supportive and understanding. These workers - mainly foreign workers from various Asian countries - China, Mymar, Thai, Indian etc were extremely helpful and proved to be nature supporters... they even went to the extent of marking the nesting holes with red & white tape and would take extra care to avoid the nesting sites when driving their heavy vehicles around the field... Kudos to the workers !!!

and so the St Andrew's BTBEs were given a slight respite and continued with their very busy nesting activities unabated for the moment - abeit with slight disturbance from us humans...
And they continued to "JUST DO IT" -- with the Nike Woosh !

 

[limmick]

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SCENE FIVE (5): The 'THREAT' - Threat to the BTBEs' Nesting (continued...)
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Perching on their favorite branch with prey just prior to going to the nest for feeding...

Launching off the perch to the field

Checking for "coast clear !" before entering the nesting hole

and shooting out from the nesting hole (just like a rocket) after a feed...each feed usually last about 30 secs to one minute... notice that there is none of the elaborate flying patterns demonstrated on landing but just a straight path out...

 

[ed9119]

just totally gorgeous images and great story :thumbsup:

If they are wary of predators they would hover around or loop in order to test the surroundings, but if they are urgent when nesting accelerates or there is no threat, they enter straight away. Notice how the menu changes in order to provide the juvenilles with a variety of nutrition.

 

[ed9119]

did the hatchlings manage to vacate their nests in time ?

 

[F2point8]

Micky,
Thanks for the clarification about disclosing the location.
Hope they all made it out of their nests in time before the bulldozer charges in, did they?
Kudos to you and your friends in making the request to the workers to avoid the nest. Really touched by their understanding as well. They are such nice people too!

 

[limmick]

just totally gorgeous images and great story :thumbsup:

Thanks ed9119 - from the "team"

did the hatchlings manage to vacate their nests in time ?

Well, guess you'll just have to continue reading the story to find out ! haha... :bsmilie:

Micky,
Thanks for the clarification about disclosing the location.
Hope they all made it out of their nests in time before the bulldozer charges in, did they?
Kudos to you and your friends in making the request to the workers to avoid the nest. Really touched by their understanding as well. They are such nice people too!

Hi Raymond, ya - the workers were really friendly and extremely cooperative about caring for the BTBEs... well as for the outcome, you'll be finding out soon (2 scenes from now !)... hehe... :bsmilie:

 

[limmick]

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SCENE SIX (6): The 'TRAGEDIES' - Triple Trouble
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And so the construction went on for a couple more days - we were hoping against hope that there will be enough time for the chicks to fledge before their nesting site is overrun by the bulldozers... each day gave the chicks more chance at survival and we were thankful each day that passed where they were spared...

Trouble #1: After a particularly stormy night where it rained heavily, nesting hole 3 seemed to have caved it and the BTBE was seen to be trying to clear and repair the nest - but to no avail and after half a day of effort it was later abandoned and there was no further activity at that nesting hole.

Trouble #2: The inevitable happened... the area around nesting hole 1 was messed up quite badly the morning when most of the big trees were uprooted... even the marker branch for nesting hole 1 was missing... also the bulldozer was left parked around that area as well. Thankfully the other 2 remaining nesting holes - 2 and 4 seemed to have been spared for the moment

This was not good at all... We continued to observe the pair of BTBEs nesting in hole 1, and they seemed very stressed and flew around frantically to and from their usual perch - often with prey (feed for their young) in their beaks for a very long time.

It was observed that they did not land on the field and so the chicks remained unfed for that morning... we then decided to adjorn for lunch and observe again before deciding whether to take any action - in the hope that the parents do somehow manage to feed their young amongst the mess in the field...

Trouble #3: Well, in life bad things do happen - and more often than not, comes all together at oncve - and for the BTBEs it was triple trouble...

On my way back for lunch I chanced upon this bright green looking thing on the road - when I went in for a closer look I then realised that it was an adult BTBE that had apparently been run over by a car... my heart sank and it was just so sad for this to happen...
To this day we are not sure if it was the disturbance at their nests which somehow triggered this death as well - as the BTBEs were not observed to land on the ground except at their nests... so what was this adult BTBE doing on the road?
A very very sad and unfortunate incident and mishap to the BTBEs...

*** WARNING *** - Following picture is not for the faint hearted... :cry:

 

[limmick]

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SCENE SEVEN (7): The 'RESCUE - PART ONE' - Rescuing the BTBEs (Part 1)
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After lunch, we continued our observation for quite a few hours before we convinced ourselves that the pair of BTBEs at nexting hole 1 were not feeding their chicks. It was difficult to confirm as they were flying around the bulldozer area frantically and swooping low on the ground from time to time... they were also observed to even fly under the porch of the building near the nest - something which had not happened before.

Towards evening time, a few of us got together and made the tough decision that we have to intervene to dig out the nest and hopefully be able to find and get the chicks out in time... there just seemed to be no other choice or option available for nature to take its course wthout dire consequences... so human intervention (only as last resort) seemed necessary...

So we went to the site manager/supervisor and requested permission to locate and dig out nest 1. Thankfully the workers were again very accomodating and agreed to our request and even accompanied us (site safety was also an issue)...

When we surveyed the area for nest 1 close up, our hearts sank again as the area was very messed up with numerous branches strewn across the area and we could not locate the marker stick nor the nesting hole entrance... so we started to move the branches around hoping to locate the hole...

And since it was evening and work had more or less stopped, some of the workers came to help - and luckily one of them managed to locate the nesting hole - right UNDERNEATH the parked bulldozer ! None of us had even thought to look under it !

 

[ed9119]

OH MY GOD !!!!!!

this is more gripping than any tv drama show

 

[wkcheah76]

The digging process:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6NTiQ8l60M&feature=related

It was performed only because the chicks would have their fates sealed if we do not do anything.

1) The Hole -

2) Johnny - Saviour 1

3) Dominator - Saviour 2